


Whiskey Firelight

by stardropdream



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, M/M, Minor Allura/Pidge | Katie Holt, Minor Hunk/Kinkade (Voltron), POV Outsider, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Season 8 Doesn't Exist, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 15:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardropdream/pseuds/stardropdream
Summary: “So,” Keith says and then doesn’t say anything else. Pidge waits, wondering if he’ll drop it. Of course he doesn’t. “We’ve been noticing…”“Who’s ‘we’?” Pidge asks.“Shiro and me,” Keith confesses and Pidge doesn’t roll her eyes.Or: With the war's end, Pidge is dealing with some doubts about her standing with friends, her feelings, and her place in the universe. She should have probably guessed that Keith would have something to say about that, by way of alcohol and Shiro-inspired pep talks.





	Whiskey Firelight

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly I'm on a mission to write outsider POV for every non-sheith character. This time, Pidge POV! This is my first time writing Pidge with such a huge focus (aside from cameos in other fics) so I hope I've done her justice! 
> 
> Note that while sheith is the "main" pair, pallura is pretty heavily featured in this. Because it's pre-relationship for them, I didn't feel right putting them on as the main pairing. (Sheith are also technically pre-relationship here but they also have their whole Thing, as Pidge would call it.) 
> 
> Thank you so, so much to [Sam](https://twitter.com/lasersheith/) for looking this over for me and for cheerleading. ♥

Pidge likes working alone on her projects. She likes it when Hunk joins her, too, of course, but for the most part, Pidge has always focused on the task at hand as an individual, solitary process. She knows she’s not the best at people, but that’s never been a problem. Her family understands, Matt maybe more than most, and the Paladins understand in their own way. 

She’s solitary and independent. She’s always thrived on that. But now—

After the war, it’s easier for the Paladins to just stick to each other like burrs. The Lions might be gone, but they’re not willing to let go of each other. And maybe secretly Pidge appreciates that, for all her fierce independence, there’s reassurance in knowing your family is still there, both blood and found. Not that Pidge is about to say this all out loud. 

Hunk is a steadfast friend and knows when Pidge needs time to tinker on her own. Pidge sees the way Hunk and Kinkade exchange looks and knows that Hunk probably appreciates the time to himself, too. Pidge supposes that Kinkade has a nice smile and Hunk always seems happy to talk and bake with him. So Pidge begrudgingly approves, not that it’s any of her business or interest, really, and Hunk hardly needs her permission. Still, if he wants it, he has it. 

Most of the Paladins nowadays hang out in the desert, anyway. For a time, they were all living on the Atlas as a temporary-not-so-temporary living space. But now that wartime’s becoming a passing memory and humanitarian efforts are the most important focus, Keith offered his dad’s old shack as a placeholder for the Paladins. It’s not big enough for everyone, but they’re building it up, all of them— everyone’s getting a room. There’s going to be a big kitchen for Hunk, a bigger lab for Pidge, a modest at-home gym for the fools who want to keep training (Pidge’s words, not everybody else’s). Anything they could need. 

Pidge hates the whole_ building_ part but she’s happy to do the designing-engineering part. So far, it’s just been a never-ending circus of everyone tripping over themselves to build and keep building. Shiro’s floating arm is a real asset for the hard-to-reach places and Pidge has grown immune to Lance’s shrieking about bad luck every time she passes under one of the many ladders, her nose buried deep in a PADD, reading through her and Matt’s builder bot upgrades. 

It’s been months of chaos. But then, maybe Pidge has always thrived on that, too. 

Today, though, it’s just Pidge and Keith. Keith’s been hammering away at a far wall for hours, building up the skeleton of what will, eventually, be their big common room for hang-outs in the evening. 

Pidge’s work today is on a stabilizing forcefield that can activate to keep the sandstorms out. Maybe she can repurpose it for her mom, too, so she can use it in her greenhouses, help Earth start being green again instead of the hellish wasteland the Galra left it. All in good time, Pidge knows. Patience has always been Shiro’s thing. Pidge is just ready to keep going, to get her stuff out there and never stop. 

An active mind is a mind that can’t wander into doubt, after all. 

Eventually, Keith’s hammering stops— which, good, Pidge was starting to get a headache— and he wanders in from outside. The other Paladins are out today. Shiro’s doing some transferring stuff with Atlas, coordinating with the MFEs, Pidge thinks. Hunk’s probably working with Pidge’s mom on cultivating more starters for yeast. Lance and Allura are— well. Pidge has been making it a point lately not to think about whatever Lance and Allura might be up to. They’ve been tiptoeing around each other and while Pidge doesn’t really give a damn about her friends’ love lives, Lance and Allura are a bit obvious. 

Pidge thinks about the juniberry flower she helped her mom grow. Pidge gave the flower to Allura a few days ago as a gift. Allura had smiled at her, her eyes soft and sweet, her mouth curving into that generous smile and, well—

Pidge’s fingers slip on the keyboard, clacking and ruining a line of code. 

Anyway, it doesn’t matter to Pidge if Allura and Lance are on a date right now. Not really. 

Pidge hears Keith wandering around behind her and, with a sigh, she swivels around to give him a dirty look, as if Keith’s very presence has somehow ruined Pidge’s concentration and not her own stupid, wandering thoughts. 

Keith, though, doesn’t react to the dirty look. Not that Pidge expected him to. 

“Are you done with that banging around?” she asks. 

Keith shrugs. “I’m taking a break. What are you up to?” 

“Nothing,” Pidge says, shutting the laptop with a definitive snap. 

Keith frowns at her and Pidge has the distinct impression that Keith’s studying her. He learned that from Shiro— that deep, intense look that leaves you feeling utterly exposed. Pidge hates it. 

She doesn’t quite squirm, but it makes her want to buckle down, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. 

Then Keith says, “I was going to go soak in the sun. You want some fresh air?” 

Pidge can see it for the calculated casualness that it is. Pidge frowns. But, it’s near the end of the day and she usually does her best work in the wee hours of the night, anyway. Still a few hours away. So she sighs, swinging her legs and jumping off her stool. The ground is dusty with construction and desert. 

“Only if we’re drinking,” she says, just to see how Keith will react. 

But Keith just snorts, his mouth playing at a smile that Pidge knows Shiro finds handsome (and she really, really hates that she knows that— but Shiro can’t hold his liquor and is a talkative drunk; Pidge found that out the hard way). 

“Just don’t tell your mom,” Keith teases, turning and retreating into the makeshift mini-kitchen they’ve been working with while the real kitchen’s under construction. She hears Keith digging around and he returns with a bottle full of golden-amber liquid. He shakes it. 

Well, now Keith’s called her bluff. Pidge knows her mom would freak— say something about how she’s still too young to drink even if she’s fought in an intergalactic war and that should _really_ give her some leeway. Apparently fighting in life-or-death situations doesn’t qualify you to drink.

A few doboshes later, they’re crawling up onto the roof— “Best place to watch the sunset,” Keith says as explanation, smiling that soft smile that means he’s thinking about Shiro when he says it— and Pidge sprawls out on the sun-baked tiles and stares up at the sky. It’s not quite sunset yet, but it will be in about an hour, the summer heat waning away to the chillier desert night. 

“So,” Keith says and then doesn’t say anything else. Pidge waits, wondering if he’ll drop it. Of course he doesn’t. “We’ve been noticing…” 

“Who’s ‘we’?” Pidge asks. 

“Shiro and me,” Keith confesses and Pidge doesn’t roll her eyes. She can’t even be surprised. More and more lately, where there’s one, there’s the other. 

She snatches the bottle from Keith instead, unscrews the cap, and tries to take a swig. She’s never actually had whiskey before, though, and she gags, spits it up a bit, and then coughs to clear her throat. Keith thumps her on the back, grinning a boyish smile. 

“Should have warned you,” Keith laughs and takes the bottle from her before she drops it and sends it rolling off the roof. 

Keith also coughs when he takes a pull from the bottle, but he’s a little more dignified about it. 

“So, what did you and Shiro notice?” Pidge prompts, figuring she might as well get this over with and be done with it. 

“You’ve been kinda… moody?” Keith says and then cringes. “That sounds harsh.” 

He takes a longer swig of the bottle, blushing. Pidge frowns, biting the inside of her cheek. She stares out at the sky, reticent. 

“So, what, he thought _you’d_ be the better one to talk to me about it?” Pidge asks, a little hurt. 

It’s true she and Shiro haven’t talked a lot lately— too busy, too focused elsewhere— but they’ve bonded in the past. Sometimes, Pidge is painfully aware of how unbonded she might be to the people she calls her friends. If it weren’t for Hunk, really, Pidge wonders if she’d even be still be in the group at all. Maybe, eventually, this shack will be built and done and she’ll still be drifted away from them all. Hunk will start dating Kinkade, maybe. Allura and Lance will— whatever. Shiro and Keith will have their thing. 

Maybe she can bury herself in her work and tell herself that it won’t hurt when that happens. She’ll always have her family, she knows, but at this point she counts the Paladins as her family, too. Being without them— well. She doesn’t want to think about it. 

“Nah,” Keith dismisses, looking up at the sky, too. If he notices her tensed shoulders, he at least has the decency not to point it out. He sighs. “He wanted to talk to you, but he said you were avoiding him.” 

“I wasn’t.” 

“You’ve been avoiding a lot of us,” Keith says, casually, and at least he doesn’t sound judgmental about it, just observing. 

“I’ve been busy,” Pidge says. It’s easy to focus on work than to look at all her friends pairing off with each other like some romantic television show. 

“You’ve had time for Hunk,” Keith answers. 

“When he’s not busy, at least. You think he’s making out with Kinkade right now?” Pidge asks, faking a laugh and hoping to dodge the accusation. 

Keith snorts. “If he is, then good for him. He moves faster than any of us.” 

He looks morose for a moment, following the statement, lost in thought. He takes a swig of the whiskey. 

Pidge wonders if Keith ever has a thought that _doesn’t_ round back to Shiro in some way. 

“So, what? Are we going to sit up here and gossip about our friend’s love life?” Pidge asks. Maybe a bit uncharitably she adds, “Some guy was flirting with Shiro the other day. Kept touching his arm and everything.” 

Keith shrugs, picking at the label on the bottle, old and faded. “Are you talking about Hawkins? He’s just a touchy-feely guy. He was all over Lance, too, so he clearly has no taste.” 

Pidge snorts. “Yeah.” 

They lapse into silence, watching the sky stain from blue to orange. Pidge has never cared much about sunsets. They’re pretty enough, just like anything in nature, and while Green helped foster a new appreciation of nature, Pidge can’t pretend to be enthusiastic about it. She doesn’t know how Shiro and Keith can stand to just sit and stare at a sunset all the time and be content like that, leaning against each other. 

Clearly they were made for each other. Even Pidge can see as much even if she doesn’t believe in things like soulmates. 

Pidge takes a pull from the bottle and coughs. It burns and she can’t say that she much enjoys the taste. 

They sit, drinking. Pidge isn’t a drinker— thanks in no small part to her mom— and so it’s not long before she feels the alcohol buzzing through her veins, making everything a little fuzzier. She sighs. 

“So,” Keith says, quietly, “You want to tell me what’s going on?” 

“Not really,” Pidge confesses.

“But you admit there _is_ something.” 

And, well, he’s got her there. She snorts; she isn’t normally this easily cornered. It’s a dirty trick, but she might be getting drunk. Keith sounds a little soft at the edges, too. 

“I’m just getting stuck in my head,” she hedges. 

“Sure.” 

They go quiet again. They drink some more. They watch the sunset. 

“I’m not good at talking,” Keith says. “Shiro would be better at this.” 

“You think Shiro’s better at everything,” Pidge argues, not unkindly. 

Keith sounds absolutely moony when he sighs, “Yeah.” He smiles to himself and drinks more. He wipes the back of his mouth when a little bit of whiskey dribbles down his chin. “Shiro, he… He’s worried about you, you know. We all are. We’re all worried about each other.” 

“Guess that’s why the Garrison’s insisting we all go to therapy,” Pidge quips because that’s easier than acknowledging the truth— that she’s worried about everyone, too. She can’t sleep most nights. It’s easy to sink into code and blame the blue light for her insomnia, but she knows it’s not so easy. She’s heard Hunk shouting in his sleep even from down the hall, found Shiro in the commissary on the Atlas, bags under his eyes and looking tired at four in the morning. 

“I just mean…” Keith pauses, quiet for a moment. “We’re all friends.” 

“Sure.” 

“So we need to look out for each other.” Keith breathes out sharply through his nose, rubbing his face. “Fuck. I’m so bad at this. I should have made Shiro do this.” 

“You’re fine,” Pidge says, watching Keith rub at his cheeks, flushed with more than just alcohol. “You’re trying to be the good leader and all that, right?”

Keith snorts. “I think my greatest hit was with Hunk. I’ve kinda sucked at it ever since.” 

“You’re fine,” Pidge says again, and finds that she means it. Somehow, it’s comforting sitting beside Keith. “Although I’d like to note that I never want to be the leader of anything.” 

Keith laughs. 

“But,” Pidge continues, quietly. “I’m not meaning to worry anyone. I thought that I was… I thought it wasn’t noticeable. I thought nobody would care.” 

“Of course we do,” Keith says. “Some of us might be better at showing it than others. But… you know. You can talk to us. To me. Or anyone. Maybe Hunk?” 

“Maybe,” Pidge agrees. “He might be busy making out, remember?” 

She grins when Keith barks a laugh, nearly pouring whiskey down his front. 

“Shit,” Keith coughs. “I’m drunk.” 

“Me too,” Pidge agrees. She nudges at Keith until he passes the bottle and she manages a large swallow. She sighs out, satisfied with herself, and relaxes, boneless, against the roof. 

“Shiro’s going to have to carry us down,” Keith mutters, smiling to himself. “We’ll just fall off on our own.” 

“You just want Shiro to carry you in his arms,” Pidge shoots back. 

Keith blushes and doesn’t deny it. 

“You talk about him a lot,” she continues. 

Keith doesn’t answer to that, either. There’s nothing he can really say, Pidge figures. In some ways, she envies their ability to just gel together like that. They’ve been obvious since the first day she ever saw them together. It’s a wonder to her that they’ve taken this long. 

They’re quiet, just watching the sky. Pidge drinks some more. 

And then Keith shifts beside her. 

“I love Shiro,” Keith declares, staring up at the sky, flooding a darker blue now as the sun sinks away.

“Yeah, no shit,” Pidge says.

“No, I mean, I’m in love with him.”

“Uh, _yeah_, no shit,” Pidge says again. Keith blinks at her, eyes wide. Pidge almost feels sorry for him. “It’s… kind of obvious, Keith.” 

“Oh,” Keith whispers. His brow furrows. “To everyone?” 

“Except Shiro, maybe,” Pidge answers, thinking of Shiro’s equally obvious obliviousness. It’s been a stupid dance she and Hunk gossiped about once before Pidge realized she really didn’t care and only found it annoying, mostly. 

Now she realizes she’s in a similar boat. Pining endlessly. It’s so damn stupid. 

“I’m not planning on being your love guru, by the way. I really don’t care about your thing with Shiro.” She closes her eyes. “I think you two should just get it over with and put us all out of our misery.” 

Keith laughs. “Noted.” 

Pidge opens her eyes and starts picking at the bottle label, absently. She chews on her bottom lip as Keith breathes beside her, his eyes hooded. He looks lost in thought, his smile hinting Shiro-related happiness. He’s so pathetically obvious. 

“How’d you know you loved him?” Pidge asks. 

Keith shrugs. “It just… was obvious. It’s him. I didn’t stand a chance.” 

Pidge knows better than to point out that plenty of people can and do know Shiro without falling in love with him. She doubts it’ll make a difference to Keith. His answer is sappy enough to not be helpful in the least. 

Pidge blinks up at the sky, thinking about Allura’s pretty hair. The clouds up in the sky look like her hair. Fuck, she really is drunk. 

“I think I like Allura,” Pidge declares.

Keith huffs a breath, not a laugh and not dismissal, but more thoughtful. Like the way Kosmo sounds sometimes, Pidge thinks. 

“Shit,” Keith says, and Pidge appreciates that about him— that he doesn’t try to sugarcoat or give Pidge any platitudes. Yeah. _Shit_ is right. 

Keith’s quieter for a beat, reaching out and taking the bottle. He thumbs at it. Then he rolls onto his side and looks at Pidge.

“You think about telling her?” 

“No,” Pidge says, honestly. 

“You never know. Maybe she’d be into it.” 

“You going to tell Shiro, too, then?” Pidge snaps, and doesn’t feel uncharitable when that shuts Keith up, his mouth thinning into a terse line. Begrudgingly, she mutters, “Sorry.” 

“No, you’re right.” 

Keith rolls onto his back again, folding his hands over his belly, tucking the bottle into the crook of his elbow, held between arm and torso. His thumbs twiddle, haphazard and drunken in the little movements. 

“Is this what’s been bothering you? Seeing Lance and Allura together?” 

Pidge shrugs. “I’m happy for them. I am. I just… you know. It’s an inconvenient crush that’ll go away eventually.” 

“I mean, they’re not _actually_ together,” Keith says. “They’re just hanging out. Lance is… Lance.” 

“Just because you can’t see how people can like him doesn’t mean people don’t like him,” Pidge counters. Lance is alright. He’s her friend and an idiot, but she appreciates him. And he’d be good for Allura. Allura deserves to be happy. 

Keith breathes out. “Still… it’s shitty.” 

“Yeah,” Pidge acknowledges. “I’ve been trying to focus on other things. But… I mean, we’re all a mess from everything. So it just means I’m stuck in my head and that’s… not really a good thing.” 

“Maybe you really should talk to Shiro,” Keith says, seemingly unconcerned about how Shiro-centric he always is. “He’s been doing meditations that help him focus. He says it’s really helped with his wandering thoughts.” 

“Maybe,” Pidge wavers. She knows that if she were to ask Shiro, he’d meditate with her. And it’d probably be really nice. But at the end of the day, she’d still be thinking about Allura’s smile, her eyes, the way her hair looks. She’ll still want to be closer to her. 

She gave Allura a flower like a damn lovestruck idiot. Pidge knows Allura was just being kind when she smiled that softly at her and touched her hand, squeezing it. 

Keith fiddles with his thumbs. She appreciates that he isn’t trying to pep her up or motivate her. He’s just listening. Maybe that’s all she needed. 

She knows that Keith still worries about his ability as a leader, but in these moments, she knows Black was right in choosing him and Shiro. She’s glad he’s a friend. 

After a long silence, Keith asks, “Want to go throw rocks at things?”

“Yeah,” she says. “I really, really do.” 

They scramble their way down the ladder from the roof and wander out past the lone tree with its tire swing, picking up stones as they go. They sit at the top of a little hill and throw stones at cacti, trying to get them to ricochet off, enjoying the satisfying thunk the cacti make when they’re struck. Their aim is for shit, but Keith still manages to land a few hits despite the impairment. 

Pidge knows she could let it go. That if she wanted to, Keith wouldn’t bring it up again. Throwing rocks is a peace offering. 

But still, Pidge asks, “Have you ever thought about telling Shiro how you feel?” 

“Yes,” Keith answers honestly. 

“And?” 

Keith shrugs, tossing a stone. It sails straight past the cactus he was aiming for. 

“I think you should,” Pidge says, going against her own declaration that she isn’t going to be anyone’s love guru. “He likes you, too.” 

Keith snorts. “Right.” 

“I’m serious,” Pidge argues. “You idiot. You’re so good at paying attention to other stuff. So pay attention.” 

Keith throws another stone. It bounces off the cactus. 

“You think so?” Keith asks, and he sounds hopeful. Pidge pities him that he has to hear this from her of all people. 

“I’ll yell at him to tell you next time I see him,” Pidge says. She thinks that maybe she should ask him to help her meditate. Being friends with everyone is exhausting. She sighs. “I really… I think about telling Allura. But I’m afraid of like— I don’t know. Messing it up.” 

“Yeah.” 

Pidge sighs. “I don’t want to make things weird. I don’t want to push people away. I’m just not… good at it.” 

“I get it,” Keith says. “I’m not the best at _people_, either.” 

“Guess that’s why we’re out here throwing rocks while everyone else is hanging out with each other.” 

“Well,” Keith says, “_We’re_ hanging out.” 

“Guess we are,” Pidge says and smiles, feeling ridiculous. She pauses and maybe it’s the alcohol that makes her say it, but she announces: “I’ll tell her if you tell him.” 

Keith snorts. “Really?” 

“Yes,” Pidge says. “If you really care that much about me and Allura.” 

Keith shrugs. “I want you to be happy.” 

Pidge frowns at him. “Do you?” 

Keith looks back, frowning. “We’re friends, aren’t we?” 

He sounds small for a moment, like he isn’t sure of the answer, like he isn’t sure of _her_ answer. Her heart aches for a second, to think that maybe she’s not the only one who worries about this. She scrubs at her face, sighing out through her nose. She throws a rock and it misses all cacti by a long shot. 

“Yeah,” she says, voice thready. “We’re friends.” 

-

Eventually, the others arrive at the shack. Coran flies out with the Paladins, plus Romelle and Kosmo, for their Paladin Dinner. It doesn’t work most nights, but they try to do it at least once a week. This time, Coran’s brought massive heaps of food from the commissary. Hunk and Lance build the fire in the fire pit, just like always. 

Shiro finds Keith and Pidge out on the hill throwing rocks. He has to duck when the one Pidge throws goes flying dangerously close to him, but he laughs about it.

“You two having fun?” he asks, eyes warm and looking, mostly, at Keith. 

“Always,” Keith slurs and throws his arm out so Shiro will help him up. Keith offers his other hand to Pidge and hauls her to her feet, too. Keith sways and leans heavily against Shiro’s side. 

“We talked,” Pidge tells Shiro, swaying on her feet until Shiro reaches out his second hand to steady her. He starts corralling both of them towards the fire. “If you were worried. We talked. We’re good.” 

Shiro smiles down at her. It isn’t the same kind of smile he gives Keith, but it’s still gentle and understanding, as Shiro is in all things. 

“I’m glad to hear it,” he tells her and she knows that he means it. 

Everyone eats around the fire, feeding it well into the night. Keith still has the bottle of whiskey and once the food’s done, the group of them start draining it. It’s an easy evening, full of laughter and the warmth, and not just from the fire. They’re all alive. They’re all here. 

Allura sits beside Pidge, laughing and talking with everyone else. She’s tied her hair back so the flames won’t be a danger. Pidge wants to bury her face in it and just breathe. She’s drunk and pathetic. 

Well into the night, once the moon’s high in the night sky, everyone’s getting sleepy. Lance is a lightweight with his alcohol. Hunk’s texting Kinkade, Pidge thinks, but he smiles and talks with her when she catches his eye. She leans against his side and presses her face against his shoulder for a moment until he hugs her, and she knows they’re good. 

She throws a log onto the fire. Coran snores behind her, face pressed into the space wolf’s fur. 

Shiro and Keith sit across from her on the other side of the fire. Shiro’s hand’s hooked under Keith’s knee, his thumb brushing over his kneecap. Pidge wonders how it can be possible for them to be like that and yet not be together. Keith leans his head on Shiro’s shoulder, eyes half-shut, perfectly content. 

Allura sits beside her, wrinkling her nose as the bottle’s passed to her. It’s nearly empty now. She doesn’t seem to care much for the taste and when she gives a little cough, Pidge reaches out a shaking hand to hit her gently on the back. 

“Thank you,” Allura says, smiling sweetly. She passes the bottle to Pidge, who passes it blindly on to Hunk. 

She watches Shiro’s thumb swipe gently over Keith’s knee, a steady metronome. His smile is so sweet, just like Keith’s. She watches Shiro tip his cheek down to rest against the top of Keith’s head, cuddling closer to him. Keith leans into his space, eyes closed fully now. 

“I think,” Allura says, quietly, her eyes on the shack they’re rebuilding. “Once our home’s complete, I’d like to put the juniberry you gave me in the window. I think it’ll like that best.” 

“Yeah,” Pidge says, quietly, afraid to speak too loud, to sound drunk and stupid. Lance is snoring across the fire, dangerously close to the flames. Pidge swallows, turning to look up at Allura. “I think it’d look really pretty there. I mean… It’ll be your room. You’ll want to make it yours.” 

Allura smiles. “I’d like to give you a return gift, if I may.” 

Pidge blinks. “I didn’t give you the flower so you’d feel obligated…” 

“No,” Allura assures her. She smiles. Romelle snores loudly, just beyond the circle of the firelight, her face pressed into the space wolf. Allura looks around and reaches out, taking Pidge’s hand. “Come on, we should let the others rest.” 

Keith opens his eyes when he senses movement and watches Allura pull Pidge to her feet, guiding her away. Pidge blushes, eyes zeroing in on Shiro’s swiping thumb and raising her eyebrows pointedly at Keith. 

Keith just turns his head, pressing his face into Shiro’s neck. Shiro’s arm curls around Keith’s shoulders, tethering them close. They really are so obvious. 

She swallows as Allura leads her off into the dark, towards Coran’s flyer. Allura hops up into the main cabin, kneeling to dig around inside a side compartment. Pidge hovers, unsure what to do with her hands. 

It’s a small gift, in the end. It’s a new hoodie, a deep forest green. She must have gotten it from the market, and she beams at Pidge as Pidge unfurls it. 

“I noticed you’d been getting cold during our firepit nights,” Allura explains, smiling. “I thought that maybe your old one was getting a bit threadbare. I hope you like it?” 

To prove how much she likes it, Pidge tugs her old sweatshirt up over her head and pulls the new one on. She grins up at Allura, throwing out her arms and posing. 

“Perfect,” Allura says, beaming, and claps her hands together. “You look great, Pidge.” 

“Is— I mean, is it okay for you to give me this, when Lance…?” 

“Lance?” Allura asks, blinking. She tilts her head. “Why would Lance care?” 

“You two have been… you know,” Pidge hedges, unsure how to put it into words. 

Allura frowns. “I don’t think that’s a problem,” she finally says. “I wanted to give you a gift. I’d like… I hope you’ll wear it.” 

Pidge nods, numbly. And feeling bold, Pidge ducks up and presses a kiss to Allura’s cheek before she can second-guess it. Easy to dismiss it away as a thank you. She blushes, feeling like a tomato. She croaks out a quiet, “Thanks, Allura.” 

Allura touches her cheek and her face turns a bit pink— pretty against her Altean markings. Then she smiles. “You’re most welcome, Pidge.” 

Pidge wavers, unsure if she should say something more or not. But Allura reaches out and takes Pidge’s hand again, leading her back out of the flyer. They hop down together and once landed, Allura doesn’t let go of Pidge’s hand. 

They return to the fire. Lance is snoring loudly now along with Romelle and Coran. Hunk looks sleepy, too, but he’s tending the fire, which is basically just him poking at the embers with a stick. Shiro and Keith aren’t at the fire anymore but Pidge spots them just beyond the tree with the tire swing, watching the stars together. She can barely make them out in the dark, only aware of where they are based on the glow of Shiro’s arm. It lights up Keith’s face as he looks up at Shiro, whispering something that’s making Shiro’s smile only grow. 

Allura stops just before the fire and Pidge nearly loses her footing. When she looks up at Allura, throat tight with a soft sound of question, Allura only smiles and leans down, kissing Pidge’s cheek— a returning gesture from earlier. 

And Pidge thinks— as they return to the fire, as Allura holds her hand through the rest of the evening and, eventually, Keith and Shiro return to the fire with their hair looking a bit rumpled— that there’s something to be said about hope, that maybe everything really is going to be alright. 

She squeezes Allura’s hand, just to see, and smiles at Keith from across the fire as Keith settles at Shiro’s side, an arm around his shoulders. This time, it’s Keith’s hand that falls to Shiro’s thigh and rests there. 

Seems Pidge will have to hold up her end of the deal. Eventually. Maybe tomorrow. 

Pidge smiles at Keith and Keith smiles back. And Pidge knows everything’s going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject) (including the [LLF Comment Builder](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/commentbuilder)), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates responses, including:
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>   * Short comments
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>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
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> This author replies to comments.
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> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/stardropdream)
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> **ETA:** I'm absolutely floored by the [beautiful art of sheith at the fire](https://imgur.com/a/aoKkpzS) a guest left in the comments of this fic. PLEASE LOOK AT IT AND CRY WITH ME cause it's just. so beautiful and perfect.


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